Monat: August 2020

There are many valuable lessons in Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s classic book, The Goal regarding how manufacturers can benefit from the Theory of Constraints (TOC). What makes this book a must-read for anyone in manufacturing is how effectively it shows how constraints can also provide the needed data and insights to achieve greater process improvements.

My favorite part of the book is how Dr. Goldratt defines goals in the context of the Theory of Constraints and sees them as mile markers to continuous improvement, requiring many breakthroughs to achieve the desired result. All manufacturers can attest that the most ambitious and valuable goals they’ve achieved took many attempts to overcome challenges they’d never anticipated when they started.  And that’s where the Theory of Constraints delivers the greatest value to manufacturing today by providing insights into how and where manufacturing teams can systematically focus efforts, energy, and attention on the wide spectrum of system constraints they encounter in attempting to reach their goals.

One gets the sense Dr. Goldratt is saying that in challenging yourself as a manufacturer with a goal that requires continuous improvement, the constraint-based challenges you’ll face will redefine who you are as a business and how you view constraints for the better. DELMIAwork’s Capable to Promise (CTP) / Available to Promise (ATP) Software provides manufacturers with the tools they need to adopt the Theory of Constraints to improve production operations continuously, providing a scalable framework to pursue continuous process improvement.

How Manufacturers Can Benefit From The Theory Of Constraints

The essence of the Theory of Constraints, as defined by Goldratt, says identifying constraints and managing them also helps explain the primary leverage points for improving overall manufacturing system performance. For manufacturers to gain the most value from the Theory of Constraints, they need to do the following:

• It’s time to start looking at constraints and bottlenecks that slow down manufacturing systems as the best providers of insights into how to improve them. Dr. Goldratt was emphatic about this point, often mentioning in his book that constraints provide the fastest route to significant improvement and form the bedrock for continuous growth.  When constraints are ignored, manufacturers are squandering large amounts of capacity. Instead of allowing constraints to define manufacturing performance, Goldratt argues that managing constraints is key to achieving long-term performance gains by learning from the insights gained.

• Inventory visibility needs to include all planned inventory transactions, including on-hand, receipts, production, backlog, and forecasts so customers can be told accurate Capable To Promise (CTP) and Available To Promise (ATP) dates. That’s a key design goal for the DELMIAworks CTP/ATP software module as well, which includes the Theory of Constraints algorithms that provide a total picture of inventory availability.  The CTP/ATP Module combines materials, tools, and machine capacity into one cohesive view so constraints can be isolated, analyzed, and acted on faster than with manual reporting methods.

• Seeing constraints as holding the knowledge needed to improve operations provides manufacturers with the data they need to achieve continuous fulfillment in every area of their business, starting with quoting and through production. It’s the manufacturers’ sales teams who provide the most complete quotes the fastest in any sales cycle who have the best chance of winning the most deals. Being able to provide CTP and ATP on a quote immediately provides customers with the most valuable data to them, which is when an order will ship and arrive at their facility. Manufacturers are improving sales, margins, and customer satisfaction by having CTP and ATP on every quote, often closing deals before competitors can react.

• Left unchecked, supply chain constraints can result in missed customer order delivery dates, which is why having a CTP/ATP module that can provide real-time visibility across an entire supply chain is invaluable.  To excel at quoting and win more deals, design CTP/ATP so that it has visibility multiple layers deep into supply chains. Constraints in supply chains can be the most challenging to identify and act on. By combining all aspects of what is required to manufacture a product, DELMIAworks’ CTP/ATP software module gives manufacturers better visibility across all levels and suppliers who comprise an entire supply chain. Having that level of insight makes it possible to respond in real-time and with perfect accuracy to customers’ requests for order updates and if their orders are going to ship on time.

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Bottom Line:  Capturing machine process and measurement data with real-time process monitoring helps manufacturers improve quality and compliance, while also increasing production yields and shop floor productivity.

Manufacturers are continually faced with the challenges of improving time-to-market while reducing production costs and increasing quality. Given the massive amount of data a typical production plant generates daily, it can be challenging to decipher which data signals matter the most.

Just as the most effective physical fitness plans that deliver lasting change start with a true baseline of performance, and the same holds for defining a machine’s baseline performance across a shop floor. To create performance plans for their machinery that drive results, manufacturers rely on real-time monitoring for the baseline data they need.

Using Real-Time Process Monitoring To Create A Manufacturing Fitness Plan

It’s time for more manufacturers to put their production machinery on a fitness plan. And the first step is to benchmark how healthy each machine is, and its contribution to improving shop floor workflows and efficiency. Real-time process monitoring provides feedback on how each machine is doing over time, often measured on a Statistical Process Control (SPC) chart. The DELMIAworks RealTime Production Monitoring system can be integrated directly into SPC and other reporting systems.  To get every machine in the best shape possible, here are four steps of how real-time process monitoring can help:

1. Capture baseline data for every machine across several shifts to check for any noticeable, easily-defined variation in output. Creating a dataset of each machine’s performance across the shop floor is the starting point for every individualized machine fitness plan.

• Choose an initial set of metrics that every machine is capable of reporting today to complete the baseline comparison. Every machine can be analyzed on four metrics: cycle times, set-up times, scrap/rework rates, and yields. Differences between machines will show up immediately. Knowing how well each machine performs against these four criteria provides invaluable insight into how its useful life can be extended.

• Identify the most and least in-shape machinery by analyzing the baseline data and indexing machines’ prior activity to customer returns and quality problems. The machinery responsible for the highest percentage of customer returns and quality problems is often the same machines that show abnormally high rates of wear and tear. Checking to make sure their mean time to repair (MTTR) and MTBF estimates are accurate is a prerequisite to prolonging the life of the machine and increasing product quality and yield rates.

• Combine real-time monitoring with machinery upgrades to uncover how production sequencing impacts machinery reliability and performance over time. Knowing why certain machines are starting to fail may have more to do with their relative position in a production workflow than initially may be apparent. That’s why real-time monitoring combined with the latest upgrades to smart, connected machinery makes sense. Together, those steps remove two potentially large sources of variation from understanding how to prolong a machines’ useful life.

Product Gains Achieved with Process Monitoring

DELMIAworks customers are accomplishing the following production gains by using real-time process monitoring software today:

• Reject rates plummeted from 30% to 2% as Quality Assurance had real-time monitoring to track where scrap was being produced in the production process. Like on-time deliveries, scrap rates and reject rates drastically improved when Eldon James had real-time data from DELMIAworks to manage production. Where and how scrap was being produced was no longer a mystery; the answers to the most challenging quality assurance questions were in the DELMIAworks system anytime they needed them.

• Augustine Plastics, Inc. (API), a world-class custom injection molder in Somerset, PA, relies on IQMS’ RealTime process monitoring software, a module of DELMIAworks for capturing and reviewing production data, then making the necessary adjustments for improved efficiencies. The impact of COVID-19 has significantly increased the demand for medical components, and API has been able to adjust production schedules to meet customers’ critical demands continuously.

• DELMIAworks’ real-time process monitoring software enables Core Technology Molding’s staff to work from home and campus and stay safe by accessing real-time monitoring data, analytics, and reports from their ERP system. Having designed the IT systems with business continuity in mind, Brandon Frederick, Manufacturing Engineer and Business Development Manager at Core technology Molding implemented an ERP system that provides for remote access. Non-production employees can log in from home or campus and get their work done, staying safe.

Conclusion

Real-time process monitoring drives measurable results by providing machine- and workflow-level data that wasn’t easy to capture before. Now it is using the DELMIAworks RealTime Production Monitoring system. Augustine Electronics, Eldon James and Core Technology Molding and many other DELMIAworks customers are using real-time process monitoring to follow jobs in real-time as they move from the schedule through production, view overall enterprise or specific work center performance, and drill down to view additional job details as well. Real-Time Production Monitoring is designed to provide instantaneous feedback on critical parameters such as total parts created, production time, downtime, rejects, and parts remaining to be produced, and cavitation changes.  Augustine Electronics, Eldon James and Core Technology Molding, and many other DELMIAworks customers also rely on the RealTime Production Monitoring System to track machine utilization, scrap, and downtime reporting help identify poor machine performance before it becomes a problem. They’re also running shift and OEE reports that provide accurate and timely production information including good and bad parts, downtime, rejects, all helping to simplify shift reporting and inventory reconciliation.

The post Monitor Machine Performance With Manufacturing Process Monitoring Software appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.

Mar-Bal operates four manufacturing facilities in North America and a sales office in Shanghai, China. They manufacture thermoset composite products essential to the appliance, electrical distribution, and industrial marketplaces.

Mar-Bal continues production under the guidelines set forth by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. The Ohio policy, which was one of the first enacted in the US, recognizes the need for critical manufacturers required to continue operation to supply the state and country during these difficult times. Mar-Bal serves multiple industries whose continued operation is necessary to make it through the challenge we all face.

One of their customers has a confirmed case of the coronavirus and is in quarantine for an indefinite period. For the remaining customers, demand is spiking. These supply chain fluctuations wreak havoc on Mar-Bal’s production scheduling.

While they have minimal staff at their administrative headquarters, manufacturing operations are nearly fully staffed with the personnel necessary to produce orders – supervision, production and quality assurance.

From their headquarters, despite minimal staff, they are able to centrally process incoming orders using their DELMIAworks ERP system and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). These orders automatically update the production schedule and generate work orders to distribute to their widespread manufacturing operations. Remote visibility of orders, inventory, and operations for their personnel at work at home and in-branch locations system has been essential to these continued business operations. The same can be said for forecasting, planning, and scheduling tools that have been critical to their ability to react to rapidly changing conditions.

At Mar-bal, DELMIAworks manufacturing software has been essential to continued operations during the COVID-19 disruptions.

The post Manufacturing Keeps Going Strong At Mar-Bal appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.

Monoflo International, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of reusable totes, pallets, and custom size plastic products used across a variety of industries including e-commerce, medical and pharmaceutical retailers, and logistics operations. Differentiated by its unique, interchangeable container and pallet design, Monoflo International is able to easily adapt its containers and pallets to meet the needs of a variety of industries.

Today, Monoflo’s containers are assisting medical and pharmaceutical companies in their fight against COVID-19 by making it easier to get needed supplies across their supply chains to facilities and treatment locations quickly.

Realtime insights enable business continuity during COVID-19

For more than a decade, Monoflo has used the DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system to track order cycles, overall production efficiency, and production data. Employees can log in to any of the workstations on the shop floor, find their machine, and get information on the current running time, remaining production requirements, and specifics related to each order they are producing. The realtime insights across the organization enabled by DELMIAworks have facilitated Monoflo’s ability to support customers with fewer onsite workers even as orders have increased during COVID-19.

Many of the food and drug retailers, as well as online retailers, that use Monoflo’s containers in their logistics operations are turning to the manufacturer to help them meet a rapid rise in demand for certain products in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because Monoflo’s operations were prepared in advance, both in terms of its procedures and technology, the manufacturer was ready to support the spike in demand from its retail customers even as work-at-home policies were being implemented. For example, staffing constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic made it have necessary to reallocate resources. Monoflo has relied on DELMIAworks to factor this constraint into its operations. At the same time, shop-floor automation is offering relief from some onsite staffing demands.

The post How Monoflo International Is Helping to Contain COVID-19 appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.

Global Interconnect Inc. (GII) is a worldwide provider of custom-engineered cable assemblies, connectors, and components often used in medical supplies. Based in Massachusetts with offices and facilities in Hong Kong and China, GII’s products are used extensively in electrosurgical tools, critical patient monitoring devices, and other products for medical applications, and medical supplies with zero-failure requirements. Today’s GII’s products are helping to equip medical professionals with the tools they need to battle COVID-19 and save lives.

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, GII replaced its legacy manufacturing resource planning (MRP) software with a DELMIAWORKS manufacturing ERP system in order to avoid the time-consuming and error-prone manual processes that resulted from using two different systems to manage the company.

Now, having a single integrated ERP system capable of delivering more precise supplier, multi-factory and distribution control, track and traceability and quality data is one of the most potent, proven business continuity strategies for supporting a global manufacturing operation. For GII, it has facilitated the agility to maintain continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic in several ways.

Initially, it was difficult to anticipate the scale of the pandemic. However, GII began contingency planning as early as December 2019 when COVID-19 infections were just beginning in China. Relying on its DELMIAWORKS ERP system, the company began planning for a potential disruption in its supply chains and accelerated shipments.

As the COVID-19 virus ran its course in China, GII used DELMIAWORKS to monitor production efficiency and resource loading in each plant. Having this data, GII was able to get one factory back to 90% production efficiency while others hovered at 60%.

GII was ready to have most of its US-based employees quickly shift to working from home while maintaining a very small group in the warehouse for shipping and receiving. Employees are accessing DELMIAWORKS from off-site/remote locations to handle purchasing raw materials, outsourcing items, and setting up bills of materials.

Today, GII is reducing the risk of the pandemic impacting its operations by providing its teams in Hong Kong and China with real-time, always-on access to DELMIAWORKS. This gives the entire company greater agility in dealing with the pandemic’s rapid changes to supply chains and shipping services’ availability.

The post How To Keep Medical Supplies Moving With ERP Remote Access appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.

Recently, Augustine Plastics, Inc. (API), a world-class custom injection molder in Somerset, PA, has dedicated much of its capability and capacity to the manufacturing of components used in nebulizers, oxygen therapy equipment, and suction units for the treatment of patients infected with COVID-19. These items are normal, everyday components for API, but the demand for therapeutic respiratory products has increased significantly. With expedited demand of these components, managing increased production and resources has been a top priority. API utilizes DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP software to plan and manage the production of its medical components critical to the breathing equipment used in lung treatment.

Real-Time Monitoring Accelerates Respiratory Equipment Production

“Augustine Plastics is considered a life-sustaining business because we manufacture critical medical components primarily used for respiratory therapy equipment,” says James Brown, President / CEO. “The production of essential medical devices is vital to fight the conditions caused by the coronavirus. The business decisions revolving around the virus are ever-changing, and as we remain open and fully functional, we are making every reasonable effort to follow CDC and local guidelines with respect to social distancing and other mitigation measures.”

According to Mike Goetz, Senior Engineering Programs Manager, “DELMIAworks (IQMS), has been an invaluable tool when it comes to planning/scheduling. We are constantly communicating with customers, making schedule adjustments, looking at material exceptions, and labor capacity to make daily decisions. Real-Time, a module of DELMIAworks, has been an exceptional tool assisting in reviewing production data and making the necessary adjustments for improved efficiencies. API is continuing to work significant overtime and has increased our labor force by as much as 40% in a very short period of time. The impact of COVID-19 has significantly increased the demand for these medical components and we are continuously adjusting our production schedules to meet these critical demands”.

Conclusion

James Brown shared “The word unprecedented seems to be used in every other sentence these days, and we greatly appreciate the patience and understanding our customers have while working with us through these times. The best way we can manage our customer requirements is through regular, open, and constant communication. IQMS provides the RealTime data to be able to communicate pertinent information daily.”

The post How Augustine Plastics Meets Soaring Demand For Respiratory Equipment appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.

Calibration Technologies Inc. was founded in 2004 with a mission to protect people and property by building the best gas detection systems in the world. Today, the Columbia, MO-based company is a leading manufacturer of gas detection equipment for industrial facilities. CTI specializes in ammonia detection, also providing sensors for other toxic and flammable gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, hydrogen sulfide, chlorine, halocarbons, and many others.

CTI sensors thrive in extreme conditions including extreme temperatures, moisture, chemical spray-downs, and high-pressure washdowns. This makes them popular for a range of uses, including food processing plants, cold storage facilities, rendering plants, power plants, sea vessels, parking garages, ice rinks, chemical plants, pharmaceutical plants, first responders, and more.

CTI’s expertise with sensors makes its solutions particularly popular in cold chain facilities, which are integral to temperature-controlled supply chains serving grocery stores, medical facilities, and pharmaceutical suppliers. To help ensure the on-time delivery of its high-quality sensors—almost always with same-day shipping—CTI relies on its DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system.

Continuity Despite COVID-19’s Impact on Cold Storage Demand

The demand for more cold food, medical and pharmaceutical storage is growing fast in response to the proliferation of COVID-19, which has spread across 180 nations, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. In particular, CTI is receiving large orders due to the velocity of replenishment for cold foods. CTI’s production operation runs on DELMIAworks to balance this demand with its capacity, keep production on track, and move at optimal efficiency—even as CTI tests every sensor before it is shipped to ensure the highest quality products are delivered to customers.

“The quality that we’re after really only happens when you’re doing it yourself when you have control of the whole process from start to finish,” explained Lajos Kalman, CTI engineering and manufacturing manager. “Because we have a 100% percent control of the product, we get 100% control of the quality.” CTI’s partnership with DELMIAworks also enables the manufacturer to maintain its policy of providing same-day shipping for nearly every order received before noon.

“Our standard philosophy is: you place an order before noon; it ships the same day. And, the exceptions to that are few,” said Brian EuDaly, founder and CEO of CTI. “We have set up our facility and systems so that we have everything we need to build, test and deliver sensors on time.”

Manufacturing ERP Software Enables Agility to Adapt

COVID-19 has created a need to minimize onsite staff while handling the spikes in customer orders. CTI’s DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system is contributing to the manufacturer’s ability to adapt and keep growing during the pandemic in three key areas.

First, using DELMIAworks, CTI is able to keep production flexible and focused on quality while the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates demand for cold storage systems. As a result, the manufacturer is fulfilling urgent orders for sensors that will be used for keeping much-needed medical and pharmaceutical supplies safe, while also working to alleviate the strain on grocery stores running out of storage space for perishable, high-demand foods including eggs, milk, meats, fruits, and vegetables.

To minimize the potential of COVID-19 exposure, CTI has many of its non-production employees working from home. The move was accomplished in less than a few days using the remote access capabilities of DELMIAworks. Now half of the entire company continuing to do business as usual from home via remote desktops and phones using VOIP.

CTI also relies on DELMIAworks to provide real-time insights and respond quickly to customers. Any member of the CTI team can access production data whether they’re onsite or working remotely using the manufacturing ERP system. With DELMIAworks, the company can continually balance more orders with its current and future stock of materials and still budget in time to test every sensor—ensuring that customers receive the fast service and superior sensors on which they rely.

Conclusion 

CTI is successfully overcoming the challenges COVID-19 created by minimizing on-site staff while handling large spikes in new orders. By relying on their DELMIAworks ERP production planning software to balance large spikes in demand with production capacity,  CTI was able to maintain their policy of providing same-day shipping, despite the increased demand. CTI also relies on DELMIAworks for its remote access capabilities, enabling its non-production employees to conduct business as usual from their homes.

The post Balancing Demand Planning & Same-Day Shipping appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.

Through proactive business continuity planning, real-time monitoring, and its DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system, Eldon James is running production 24/7 to meet its medical industry customers’ increased demand in the wake of COVID-19.

Eldon James is a world-class manufacturer of medical tubing and connection solutions based in Colorado. Using a combination of real-time monitoring, ERP, manufacturing execution system (MES), and quality management functionality, the company has up-to-the-moment, accurate insights into its supply chain, production capacity and efficiency, and product quality.

Lights-Out Manufacturing Keeps Medical Component Production Running

Today, Eldon James relies on its manufacturing technology investments to help overcome the challenges of operating in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company is running lights-out manufacturing shifts across 28 injection molding machines, reducing the need for onsite, shop floor employees. By maintaining two manned shifts and one lights-out shift, Eldon James is allowing production to run 24/7 to keep up with the increased demand for medical tubing and connectors.

Eldon James sent home all non-facility essential people to work from home—22% of its workforce. But, using the DELMIAworks (IQMS) ERP system, the manufacturer’s salesforce and management team can continue their order entry and perform production planning and scheduling from offsite.

Machines at Eldon James are monitored in real-time to give feedback to the operations teams working the production shifts. Using their DELMIAworks manufacturing execution functionality, engineering is able to connect with production remotely, and quality control can monitor output and logistics to know immediately when the product is available and ready to ship.

DELMIAWORKS Track and Traceability functionality has become especially critical to Eldon James. It enables the company to track real-time raw material and finished good inventory and have traceability back to the lot and batch of raw materials of finished product.  Additionally, it allows the manufacturer to manage increased demand for medical component parts that require outsourced sterilization.

Eldon James Excels At Contingency And Business Continuity Planning

Notably, Eldon James ramped up its ongoing contingency and business continuity plan to take into account COVID-19’s worst-case disruption to the business in early March. This helped the company get in front of many sales and production issues early. This has enabled Eldon James to keep all of its employees working while ensuring business continuity to minimize disruptions for its customers.

“During COVID-19, we have relied on the system more than ever,” Andrea Collins, System Operations Manager at Eldon James said.

Supported by DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP technology, Eldon James customer service, operations, and logistics are continuing without disruption.

The post Running 24/7 to Meet Medical Industry Demands appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.

Leveraging DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system, Core Technology Molding Corporation reallocates manufacturing resources to meet the spike in manufacturing demand for medical testing kits in the wake of COVID-19.

Core Technology Molding Corporation is a custom injection molding manufacturer based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Today, Core Technology differentiates its business by combining the DELMIAworks ERP system’s real-time process monitoring, manufacturing execution system (MES), and warehouse management system (WMS) capabilities to gain greater control and visibility into its shop floor operations. Additionally, having an integrated ERP software system provides the data the company needs to deliver consistently high-quality products.

Core Technology competes in eight key markets including aerospace, appliance, automotive, biological pharmaceutical, consumer goods, heavy truck, medical device, and outdoor lawn equipment. And no market segment represents more than 30% of total revenues. Using DELMIAworks, the company can quickly run reports on manufacturing costs and margins by customer and segment, helping the management team to manage risk and achieve business continuity.

Achieving Agility to Meet Rapidly Changing Manufacturing Demands

The rapid onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in equally fast shifts in demand across the different industries that Core Technology serves. 

The company is seeing significantly higher orders from major medical product and biological pharmaceutical manufacturers—most notably for medical testing kits. Across the industry, manufacturers’ ISO-certified medical cleanrooms are running at high capacity to support the influx of orders.

Business continuity planning is an ongoing process at Core Technology, and in February 2020, the senior management team began defining scenarios of how they could keep operating. Using insights from reports generated by DELMIAworks, the company has been able to respond to the dramatic demand fluctuations driven by COVID-19, using the manufacturing ERP system to:

• Adjust production planning and scheduling in its ISO-7 and ISO-8 certified medical cleanroom.
• Ensure production is on track through real-time process monitoring.
• Maintain optimal levels of inventory.

Early on, Core Technology also initiated immediate and thorough compliance with U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) operating guidelines to protect employees and customers against the spread of COVID-19, including periodically cleaning all surfaces, machinery and meeting areas.

With its medical cleanroom facilities and insights from its DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system, Core Technology has been able to minimize its risks in the wake of COVID-19 while making the most of opportunities to serve the medical industry with quality products delivered on time.

The post Adapting Fast When Manufacturing Demand Shifts: Lessons From Core Technology appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed manufacturers to rapidly shift gears, from addressing work-from-home policies to managing extreme swings in demand and uncertain supply chains. In the process, it has highlighted an aspect of manufacturing ERP that is not as visible in more normal times— business continuity.

It’s not that an ERP system’s ability to mitigate abrupt business changes hasn’t been noted in the past. For instance, it plays a central role during a change of ownership or a local event, such as a fire or flood. However, the extensive reliance on ERP solutions to maintain widespread, fundamental business continuity, as we are seeing today, has never been experienced on such a large scale.

Today, during the COVID-19 response, ERP is keeping entire industries in operation with its ability to sustain business operations through remote access, automated reporting, electronic data exchange, and real-time factory controls. Never in the history of ERP have we seen it play a bigger role in the continuance of manufacturing operations around the world.

Knowing that, let’s take a deeper look at how manufacturers are capitalizing on DELMIAwork’s ERP software functionality to maintain business continuity by addressing some of the COVID-19 impacts we are seeing today:

• Empowering employees working from home
• Keeping production at the facility on track
• Managing shifts in demand patterns

Empowering Employees to Work at Home

Businesses across all spectrums are minimizing the number of people coming into their plants and offices and maximizing the number working from home. In a manufacturing environment, it’s typically front office personnel who work from home, such as those in administrative, planning, and design roles.

For companies with a DELMIAworks ERP system in place, the shift to front office personnel working from home, driven by COVID-19 prevention measures, has not caused major business disruptions. Their front-office teams are able to access their ERP system at home and run the business from there. They maintain full visibility of the business and can continue to interact with customers and suppliers.

A good example is Mar-Bal Inc., a leading manufacturer headquartered near Cleveland, OH. Mar-Bal’s teams can access their DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system anywhere from their mobile phones, tablets, or laptops to see which jobs are running, determine the inventory stock Mar-Bal has on hand, or check on order status and completion progress within seconds. This has helped Mar-Bal to become indispensable to its customers who rely on the manufacturer for timely updates and delivery. In the midst of COVID-19, Mar-Bal facilities are up and running.

Modern ERP solutions have even minimized the need to have IT professionals onsite since many of today’s solutions are hosted or managed in the cloud. As a result, the systems can be maintained from any remote location, creating yet another group of employees that can do their jobs away from the factory.

A case in point is Ventura Manufacturing, an award-winning company that serves a range of markets globally. Headquartered in Zeeland, Michigan, it has multiple local plants, as well as facilities in China, Hungary, and Mexico. Using the DELMIAworks Hosted Managed Service, the company has minimized the need for local ERP system support. Additionally, the corporate office can remotely run daily global reports with updates from all of its facilities while cutting the time to run reports by up to 50%. Despite COVID-19, Ventura’s global facilities are operational.

Keeping Production on Track

Having front-office personnel work from home is one thing. But, running a factory floor from home is an entirely different challenge. Some small number of factories can run nearly lights out, but many must be staffed with operators and material handlers. In these factories, it becomes a question of how few people are required to be at work at any one time.

Manufacturing ERP systems minimize the number of onsite shop floor staff by precisely scheduling work; dispositioning materials, and monitoring equipment for output; quality and maintenance issues in real-time. In other words, manufacturers are managing the shop floor by exception rather than rote supervision.

Real-time production monitoring is usually held out as an example of the ultimate in manufacturing control. Today it stands out as a critical tool for production continuity with a minimum of onsite workers.

One company of note is Eldon James, a world-class manufacturer of medical connection solutions. Today, the company is running lights-out manufacturing shifts across 27 injection molding machines, greatly reducing the need for onsite, shop floor employees. Eldon James has accomplished this by combining real-time production monitoring with its manufacturing execution system (MES) and quality management functionality. Throughout COVID-19, Eldon James’ customer service, operations, and logistics are continuing without disruption.

Similarly, Mar-Bal relies on real-time remote access and production monitoring to keep production on track and inform its production, sales, and service teams on order status, shipping, delivery and service updates. Having an immediate view enables Mar-Bal to excel at being responsive and helpful to its customers.

Managing Shifts in Demand

Certainly, one impact of COVID -19 for many manufacturers has been a sudden shift in demand patterns.

While some have seen a drop-off, many others are seeing spikes in demand. One such manufacturer is Core Technology Molding of Greensboro, North Carolina, which has strategically invested in multiple industries. While automotive orders have slowed, the company is using insights from its DELMIAworks ERP system to adjust production and meet the rising demand among its medical product and pharmaceutical customers as they respond to COVID-19 healthcare needs.

Another manufacturer is Monoflo of Winchester, Virginia, a producer of reusable packaging. Many food and drug retailers, as well as online retailers, use its containers in their logistics operations. Several of these customers have moved up orders previously slated for later in the year to accommodate current demand. Even as Monoflo has faced staffing restraints related to COVID-19, the automation provided by its DELMIAworks ERP system is enabling the manufacturer to meet the increased demand.

The demand fluctuations have greatly shifted the production inertia of many businesses. Raw materials supplies must be adapted; schedules and tooling changes are required, and different personnel are needed at different times. At the same time, off-shore factory closures have impacted the availability of materials and components from some suppliers.

Manually compensating and planning for sudden shifts or new suppliers could be weeks-long efforts—leading to delays that manufacturers can’t afford. By contrast, with today’s manufacturing ERP systems, re-planning, re-scheduling, and re-provisioning are nearly instantaneous. And just as importantly, these functions can be accomplished from remote locations.

A northwestern Pennsylvania-based manufacturer, serving many of the world’s largest mass merchandisers, is a good example of using manufacturing ERP software to rapidly respond to changing patterns in demand. In the wake of COVID-19 disrupting some of its suppliers’ operations, it has turned to alternate suppliers. The company uses DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system for demand pattern analysis and demand planning as it works with its network of suppliers and negotiates new buying agreements. The manufacturer is also addressing the challenge by aggregating purchasing with members of its supplier network and purchasing components immediately, while also working to keep costs under control.

Looking Ahead

After this period of disruption, factories and their workforces will return to a more normal operating profile. But, they will forever be strengthened by the lessons learned during a period when we were required to work remotely and use our business technology to the fullest extent possible.

How manufacturers think about their ERP systems will be forever changed as well. In addition to their well-understood values of maximizing profitably, ensuring top-notch customer service, and delivering quality products, ERP solutions will now be known for their unique ability to maintain business continuity in the face of sudden change. ERP software is now recognized as an essential business safety net to respond to and overcome unforeseen events.

The post ERP Sustains Manufacturing during COVID-19 appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.